Armin Leuschner was born in Detroit but raised in Germany. He returned to take his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan and then became the first graduate student at the Lick Observatory. He soon turned to teaching mathematics and astronomy at Berkeley, later earning his Ph.D. at Berlin. He led the Berkeley Astronomical Department for half a century, and he held many other administrative positions in the University of California as well. His research was in orbit theory, and he determined or refined orbits of numerous asteroids and comets, but his most important contribution to astronomy was as an educator. He founded the Students’ Observatory (now the Leuschner Observatory), and he produced more than sixty Ph.D’s, many of whom became leaders in astronomy.